Ross_Varn wrote:TF2 and SMNC are both from independent studios who have become a part of the good video game scene. You've been buying independent games from a lot more people than Notch.

Yeah, the question is what have this "Massive Black" guys done in the past that warrants giving them gobs of money?Uber Entertainment and Valve are made up of veteran game developers, while these guys sound like a group of concept artist...

Whiteagle wrote:Yeah, the question is what have this "Massive Black" guys done in the past that warrants giving them gobs of money?Uber Entertainment and Valve are made up of veteran game developers, while these guys sound like a group of concept artist...

Yeah. I got distracted by a tangent. I've no idea what Massive Black's gameplan is, or even if they can make a decent game.

samuelzz10 wrote:I don't see this game working out. I only see a steaming pile of crap that is made by ametuers, rather than a company that has made a name for itself. Just play TF2 or Super Monday night combat.

oh, yes, brilliant, go play the stuff that isn't going to change anything because you don't want to take a risk. Maybe this game won't work out, but you really must not be paying attention if you've been ignoring the stuff on the independent developer scene recently. This attitude is why E3's public panels were ninety percent of the same gun-toting, copy-pasted crap that we've been seeing for the last several years.

I have played a few indie games. Minecraft, Terraria, and Magicka. But you see Ross, Notch started programming at the age of seven, so I know when I buy from him it will probably be a good game.

Yes, indie games generally tend to be good when the creators are programmers first and artists second, and not the other way around. If there's a mix of programmers and artists, then that tends to work also.

samuelzz10 wrote: Notch started programming at the age of seven, so I know when I buy from him it will probably be a good game.

I've been programming since the age of two (apparently my dad managed to teach me a bit of Visual BASIC, I remember nothing), and I'm not very good at it. Minecraft is actually pretty terrible from a UI and kinesthetics standpoint.

samuelzz10 wrote: Notch started programming at the age of seven, so I know when I buy from him it will probably be a good game.

I've been programming since the age of two (apparently my dad managed to teach me a bit of Visual BASIC, I remember nothing), and I'm not very good at it. Minecraft is actually pretty terrible from a UI and kinesthetics standpoint.

Not sure if or samuelzz10 being retarded.

Well, I know I'm not retarded, but I sure as hell know I don't know what a UI is.

muffinman42 wrote:Minecraft's user interface isn't terrible, It's the bugs and how they never get fixed which is terrible. Minecarts haven't worked for about 6 months, what dose mojang work on? Recolouring wood.

Having worked on at least a couple of construction games, I'll go on record to say that the left-click right-click UI that makes up 99% of Minecraft is among the all-time best in terms of immediacy and intuitiveness. Minecraft's interface only starts to fall apart in the other 1% of the game where you're forced to use one of the GUIs.

Also, having worked on a couple of games, if you pull a guy off of recoloring wood and redistribute those resources to minecart programming, you're not going to have a good time. Texture artists aren't functional engineers, these are not equivalent assets. (I know everyone here knows this already, but you would be AMAZED how many toy company executives don't, no matter how many times you explain it to them.) The reason the engineers aren't working on minecarts is because there are way more important functional issues to prioritize first. Who even uses minecarts? They're practically useless except for roller coastering.

Well, that would be one point to work on. There are mods that add new functions to minecarts that actually make them usefull. For example Better that Wolves or Buildcraft provide the possibility to automatically fill items into chests and even into chests on minecarts. You can use this for automated transport, which can be quite usefull.

But there hasn't been any noticable addition to the tech tree since the brewing stand (which was a pretty useless one, if you ask me).